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The following five lines are from one of the most famous poems in history:

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.

"saw" and "Abora"? Was Abora pronounced ab-RAW back then?

Additional info: Mount Abora is purely imaginary. According to some rumors Wikipedia was thoughtful enough to include, Coleridge drew inspiration for parts of this poem from Milton's "Paradise Lost," in which said Mount is styled "Amara," with the main stress, humanely, on the first syllable (Milton always scans well; you can rely on him, all right):

...Nor where Abassin Kings thir issue Guard,
Mount Amara, though this by some suppos'd
True Paradise.

Thus, with Milton, at least, Amara is a three-syllable word, and is pronounced AM-uh-rah. The secondary stress (on the third syllable) can be used if one wishes to rhyme it.

More on the meter: If my (very tentative) assumption is correct, then the last line should consist of one dactylic foot followed by one anapestic foot. Like this:

SING ing of ... mount ab RA
(STRESS-no stress-no stress ... no stress-no-stress-STRESS)

I hasten to add that the first line (one of the participants suggested that the rhyming pattern is, in fact, ABCCA) is iambic throughout (i.e. every second syllable is stressed):

a dam sel with a dul ci mer

Ricky
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    The pattern looks like ABCCA, with dulcimer rhyming with Abora. – Lawrence Nov 21 '15 at 06:37
  • @Lawrence: how does dulcimer rhyme with Abora? – herisson Nov 21 '15 at 06:42
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    Both words could conceivably end with the /ə/ sound. – Lawrence Nov 21 '15 at 06:46
  • @Lawrence: Okay, I'm all eyes and ears. They could, conceivably. And? – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 06:47
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    There is such a thing as approximate rhyme, which makes me want to shoot myself when I read it. This doesn't make me want to shoot myself, so it must rhyme! – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 06:53
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    Oh, and certainly "saw" rhymes with "ah," which is a reasonable way to pronounce the last syllable of "Abora" in recitation. I pronounce the two sounds very differently and still it seems to rhyme. You may feel differently. – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 06:57
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    My comment took this (in the title) to mean all 5 lines and was in response to the question in your title rather than those in the question body. The 5 lines can be considered to rhyme with the scheme ABCCA. I make no comment on whether Abora rhymes or ever rhymed with saw. – Lawrence Nov 21 '15 at 06:59
  • @MattSamuel: I can see and appreciate how, in your combinatorial passion, you could tweak them like that, if only to keep yourself from reaching for the revolver, but please tell me: in your ... uh ... algebroidesque ... uh ... vision ... is it ab-RAH or AB-uh-RAH? Two syllables or three? I.e. is he mixing his trochees with anapest or iambs or what? – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:07
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    @Ricky interesting. I didn't notice you only used two syllables. Well in my ignorance I've been pronouncing it "Ae-bow-rah." – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 07:09
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    @Lawrence: That's not what I meant. Suppose the scheme is indeed abcca, and both "dulcimer" and "Abora" end with /ə/; how would you reconcile the rest of the sounds? Or is one unstressed vowel sufficient to make a rhyme? Or what? – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:09
  • @MattSamuel: I'm open to all and any suggestions here. Two syllables or three, just make them fit for me somehow before I go insane. SING ing of MOUNT Ae-bow-rah - which syllable is stressed in Ae-bow-rah? – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:13
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    Far be it for me to edit, but I would recommend adding the pronunciation tag, and the title could refer to any poem written by Coleridge, be a little more specific if you don't want users reaching out for their "Off-topic" or "POB" vote. – Mari-Lou A Nov 21 '15 at 07:14
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    @Ricky There's also cadence (stressed syllables in upper case, incuding the first syllable of Abora): (a) DAM-sel with a DUL-ci-mer // SING-ing of mount A-bo-ra. Poetry is art - technicalities aside, if it can pull a response from you, it works. – Lawrence Nov 21 '15 at 07:15
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    @Ricky Ae-bow-RAH, though I confess I can't discern a regular rhythm in the poetry. I've been reading it kind of like a limerick, which seems to require some awkward speed-ups or pauses. – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 07:17
  • @Lawrence: I don't think Coleridge ever used art, or poetic license, as an excuse for sloppy rhyming. In the year 1812, a poem either rhymed or it didn't. – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:22
  • @MattSamuel: The rhythm is irregular, all right, but there's gotta be method in his madness. – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:24
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    @MattSamuel: "saw" certainly does not rhyme with "ah" in many varieties of British English. – herisson Nov 21 '15 at 07:43
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    @sumelic I believe you. It's possible though that the accent at the time was closer to American English than the accent now (pure speculation). – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 07:45
  • @sumelic: True; the question is, though - does it rhyme with it in some of them, or, more to the point - did it? – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:45
  • @MattSamuel: WHICH American English? There are so many. It wouldn't rhyme in New York today; that much I can tell you. Boston, maybe. Got any friends in Boston? I've got three, but they're probably asleep now, or partying. – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:47
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    I believe there are no non-rhotic forms of English where "saw" rhymes with "ah." So if Coleridge used rhymes like "lord" and "awed," I think that would indicate that he did not rhyme "ah" and "aw." – herisson Nov 21 '15 at 07:51
  • @sumelic: Good point. – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 07:52
  • @ricky I'm from New Jersey actually. The sounds are not the same at the end of the two words, but to me it seems like it rhymes anyway. I'm not presenting my opinion as gospel truth though, so feel free to disregard it. – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 07:58
  • @MattSamuel: So ... uh ... if they're not the same, WHY does it seem to you that it rhymes anyway? What criteria are you using? Do they sound similar at least, or? ... You guys shouldn't have dumped Brodeur like that. – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 08:02
  • @Ricky maybe it's because it's 3 am! And I had to look up your sports reference to understand it, so clearly I didn't cast my vote on this dumping. – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 08:08
  • I see rhythm! It WAS an A-byss-IN-yin MAID//And ON her DULciMER she PLAYED (misspelling intentional). That's actually iambic. – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 08:28
  • @MattSamuel: I added some edits about an hour ago about the meter. In fact, the first four lines are all iambic with the exception of the second line that opens with an anapestic foot, which is quite common in English poetry of any century. So, yeah, it's all iambs, which brings us back to the original problem: look at the last line and tell me: what the hell is all that nonsense? what am I missing? – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 08:41
  • @Ricky I think your meter interpretation is accurate, unless the ellipses indicate a pause. I think the last line should be read like you're hitting something 6 equally spaced times with minimal stress. – Matt Samuel Nov 21 '15 at 08:52
  • @MattSamuel: My sentiments exactly at this point. (No, not a pause, just a divider). Benedict Cumberbatch says ah-BORE-ah as he recites the poem, but he's an idiot. A somewhat disturbed-looking older guy in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaoZttkr1qw says AH-buh-rah. Minimal stress be it. – Ricky Nov 21 '15 at 09:04

1 Answers1

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  1. The meter of this part of the poem has irregularly alternating lines of four and three feet.

    A damsel with a dulcimer
    In a vision once I saw:
    It was an Abyssinian maid
    And on her dulcimer she played,
    Singing of Mount Abora.
    Could I revive within me
    Her symphony and song,
    To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

There doesn't seem to be any real pattern to which feet have three syllables and which have two (except that the lines with four feet tend to be iambic), so if you accent the last syllable of Abora, the meter works.

  1. Coleridge uses several near-rhymes in this poem: river and ever; forced and burst; haunted and enchanted. This last pair has the same phonemes (/ɔː/and /ɑː/) as saw and Abora, in what I think is the most likely pronunciation of Abora with the stress on the last syllable. So whether or not he thought saw and Abora was a perfect rhyme, they were clearly close enough for Coleridge.
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Peter Shor
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  • "river" and "ever" are almost certainly near rhymes, and "forced" and "burst." For "haunted" and "enchanted," it's less clear: I believe /hɑːnt/ actually existed as an archaic pronunciation of "haunt" for BrE, so possibly it did rhyme with "enchanted" (if Coleridge had the TRAP-BATH split). – herisson Nov 21 '15 at 19:15
  • @sumelic: You're right: in Walker's pronouncing dictionary from 1828 (available online), the recommended pronunciation appears to be /hɑːnt/ and /sɔː/ for haunt and saw. So haunt may have rhymed with aunt and chant for Coleridge. (Or maybe not; I suspect haunt/gaunt were pronounced with both vowels in England at the time, since the American and current British aunt/haunt split probably came from some British accent.) – Peter Shor Nov 21 '15 at 21:38
  • One last comment: If you put the primary accent in Abora on the first syllable, but secondary stress on the third, I think the poem still scans and rhymes quite well. And this stress pattern matches Milton's Amara, so you could make a good case that this is the correct pronunciation. But on YouTube, you can find people reading it who accent the second syllable [cringe]. – Peter Shor Nov 26 '15 at 21:35